Man arrested in Mexico is suspect in stabbing

SAN DIEGO: A suspect has been arrested in Mexico in connection with the stabbing of a man found dead in his downtown apartment last month.

Mexican authorities took Gilbert Egurrola, 25, into custody about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday south of Tijuana, said Omar Castillo, a U.S. Marshals Service agent. Egurrola has been returned to the United States,

He is suspected of being involved in the April 25 stabbing death of Ralph Barrera, 82. Barrera was entertaining several friends at his home in Core-Columbia on E Street, near Seventh Street, when he was killed, said San Diego police homicide Lt. Kevin Rooney.

Egurrola was at the apartment with his girlfriend and was named a suspect about a week later, Rooney said.

He was handed over to detectives at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. He is being held with without bail on suspicion of murder.

Rooney said police did not know a motive for the killing.

Egurrola is a U.S citizen from Fresno who had been staying downtown with friends, Rooney said. –D.B.

Deputies arrest woman after locker room thefts

SANTEE: A woman was arrested on suspicion of theft after she was caught stealing items from a 24 Hour Fitness locker room, the Sheriff's Department announced yesterday.

Deputies said they later found more stolen items in her car and in her home in Mira Mesa, with an approximate value of $20,000. The items included gift cards, purses, jewelry, makeup and expensive clothes with the sales tags still attached, deputies said.

The woman, 36, from San Diego, was arrested Wednesday as she exercised at the 24 Hour Fitness in Santee. She had used a homemade device to open the lockers of gym members while they worked out and stored the stolen items in her own gym bag, deputies said.

A watch valued at $1,600 and a purse containing $400 in cash were found in the woman's bag when she was arrested, deputies said. –J.L.J.

Guilty plea entered in shooting at home

NORTH COUNTY COURTS: A man who was shot by Oceanside police in front of his home last year pleaded guilty yesterday in to two felony counts related to the incident.

Appearing in a wheelchair before Vista Superior Court Judge Aaron Katz, Gregory Kwok, 40, admitted to one count of negligent discharge of a firearm and one count of assault on a peace officer with force likely to cause great bodily injury.

Officers were heading to the house on Lonnie Street that Kwok shared with his elderly father after a report of a dispute between the two. While police were en route to the house, Kwok fired a gun outside.

He later came outside with a pit bull, police said, and charged at three officers. Kwok reached for an officer's gun, police said, and officers shot him. Police later shot and killed his pit bull.

Kwok was hospitalized for months before he was taken to the medical ward of the Vista jail, prosecutor Katherine Flaherty said.

Although Kwok faces five years in prison, Flaherty said she will probably seek a sentence of a year in jail and a stay in a residential rehab facility. Kwok is scheduled to be sentenced June 15.